Change The Way Someone Feels (with music)

Angsty teenage Jered used to love falling asleep to the soothing sounds of Tool’s Maynard J. Keenan screaming at him. On other nights, I’d listen to an old CD I found of recordings of Palestrina’s renaissance choir stuff.One night I had an ear ache so bad I thought my head was going to explode. I put on headphones and cranked up Staind’s “Break The Cycle” until it was louder and more distracting than the pain in my head. And it worked: something inside was rattled into pain-free-ness, like when we used to smack the old TV to fix the signal. I felt better within minutes.

Looking back, I realize what was happening: just like with the ear ache, the vibrations were basically giving my nervous system a free chiropractic adjustment. Music sneaks in, jiggles the stuff we didn’t know was stuck, and we feel better.This is why music is so great: no matter how tightly packed our life becomes, music comes along and says “I’m gonna shake some of that loose for you.”Music gets through to us even when we didn’t know we were stuck, whether it’s a cappella choirs singing in Latin or strung out rock stars chugging power chords.